Originally constructed to accompany the unbuilt Auburn Dam, the bridge stands 731 feet above the riverbed. It was fabricated in 1971 by Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Japan, built by Willamette Western Contractors, and opened in 1973. The bridge spans the North Fork of the American River in Placer County between the city of Auburn and the town of Foresthill in the Sierra Nevada foothills.[1] Pedestrians can walk the length of the bridge in both directions. There is anti-Auburn Dam graffiti, showing protest of the planned dam, on the bridge's underside. A seismic retrofit project was begun in January 2011 and will cost an estimated $74.4 million .[2][3] The original bridge cost less than $13 million.